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T O P I C R E V I E W

Harald Kraenzel

Today I received some new STS and ISS patches directly from AB Emblem.

I was surprised when I had a look at the back where I saw a sticker showing some informations which I was told is the item number, the date of manufacturing and the machine used.

Maybe this is helpful for collectors.

dogcrew5369

These stickers were also present on the reverse of recent shuttle patches I ordered from Skyforce Space Patches.

Robert Pearlman

The decals came about as a result of changes to child safety laws, but have the added benefit of allowing collectors to quickly and easily identify an AB Emblem patch from another company's. All new AB Emblem patches, regardless of where or how they are sold now include the decal.

Harald Kraenzel

quote:Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:The decals came about as a result of changes to child safety laws...

In addition to the above AB told me that this is a result of: "New government regulations for traceability."

Space Emblem Art

AB Emblem makes my limited edition fictional Moonstar space patches and on my latest order received last month, I noticed the stickers on the back also.

It appears that AB affixes the sticker to the back of the patch before applying the plastic backing, so the sticker is "sealed" in and can't be removed without cutting into the plastic backing.

Voyager2012

I had a quick question about the AB Emblem label on the back of the patches. Are they only on the patches that came out for the last say two years or so? I was wondering if I ordered the ISS Expedition patches say from Expedition 1 thru 22 or something like that would they have the label or just for the recent expeditions over the last two years? Thanks!

Harald Kraenzel

From my point of view only those patches which have manufactured recently (after that specific date they have to put that label on the back) do have it attached.

But this does not mean that you will get those e.g. Expedition 1 thru 22 without labels. It depends whether they had to do a further run for specific patches as they were out of stock. Those such possible new patches will have the label also.

Voyager2012

Harald, back when you first posted this topic in January of 2010, what were the ISS patches you got at that time with the labels on the back of them that you first noticed? Expedition 22? 23? Both?

Harald Kraenzel

Both.

Liembo

Prior to the numeric code tags on the backs of A-B Emblems patches, how often did they put these on the backs of their patches? I don't see this very often at all in the earlier STS crew patches. It's under the plastic backing as well.

Kevin T. Randall

Most shuttle missions had these patches from the STS-3 5" initialed patches, then from about STS-35 onwards, (with a round white type 2 sticker), that were attached to either samples, prototypes, and first production runs of usually 50 patches, had these various types of the AB Emblem white round embedded stickers attached to the backs of those patches. Some were also square or rectangular in shape, and or black in colour depending on when in the 30 year timeline they were produced.

Most of these patches were destined for the Astronaut Office, at the Johnson Space Center for approval and distribution to the crew, technicians and ground crews for each flight.

These patches are extremely hard to find as so few were produced prior to each flight, compared to the final version souvenir patches for each flight.

It's nice when a company like AB Emblem has an identifier on the back. Is there somewhere where other backings are noted?

I have a lot of patches that have a variety of backings that I can't identify using the wonderful websites from other posters here. Some have coated twill, a thin wax back, vacuum sealed, Taiwan stickers, etc. Any help would be appreciated.

Liembo

For patches up through Apollo, the CrewPatches.com is your best resource. For more modern ones, SpacePatches.nl has some information regarding variations. SpacePatchDatabase.com also has information about variations and their source if you know what mission you're looking for.

I'm working on a more comprehensive Variations section on SPDb that talks about distinct variations among modern Crew Patches and their origins if I can properly trace them down.

Kevin T. Randall

I have just acquired an AB Emblem ISS Expedition 15 (no names) patch with a new type of black and gold square, or I should say a 'diamond shaped' AB Emblem 'crown' type embedded label.

Gonzo

quote:Originally posted by Liembo:I'm working on a more comprehensive Variations section on SPDb that talks about distinct variations among modern Crew Patches and their origins if I can properly trace them down.